Eventually
by Potterworm
Summary: "That's the thing, Rory. I don't want eventually." Set during 6x12, Just Like Gwen and Gavin, when Lorelai finds out about April.


**Disclaimer: **Lorelai, Rory, and all other recognizable _Gilmore Girls_ characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, and the WB. No infringement is intended.

**Summary: **"That's the thing, Rory. I don't want eventually." (Set during 6x12, Just Like Gwen and Gavin, when Lorelai finds out about April.)

**Author's Note: **Originally, this was supposed to be for the Support Stacie Author Auction. It was a response to mag1's prompt for a story set after Lorelai finds out about April. I ended up writing_ Candid _for her instead, but I can't resist posting what I've written of this anyway, since I think, even though it was intended to be longer, it makes a nice little drabble.

**Eventually**

"Two months! That's a hell of a long time to go without telling me!" Lorelai shouts. Her voice sounds shrill. She can feel herself losing it.

"I know," Luke says, "I should have told you."

Lorelai shivers. "What happened to no secrets, Luke?" she says, and her voice breaks. "You made me _promise, _for God's sake! It wasn't enough that I told you that nothing was happening with Christopher. It wasn't enough that it was a knee-jerk reaction, stopping the message when you walked in the room, because the last time he got involved, you _broke up with me. _It wasn't enough!"

She's yelling, Lorelai realizes. People are staring, and Luke looks like he can't decide whether or not to back away from the crazy lady or come closer to soothe her. "You still made me promise," she says, and somehow, she has quieted. Her voice is a whisper. "And you've hid a daughter from me this whole time."

For a moment, it is deadly silent. Luke waits until he's sure she is finished and then says, "Lorelai, I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

Lorelai had been sorry too, when she hadn't told him about comforting Christopher after his father died. That had been innocent though, a favor to her daughter and a childhood friend.

"She's cute," Lorelai interrupts.

Luke takes a step towards her, but no, no she backs up. This wasn't innocent. Suddenly, Luke is ranting. No, not ranting, babbling. She listens as he explains about a science fair and DNA tests and clandestine playground meetings. He says he wanted to tell her, but she was busy.

She would've made the time.

"-And here we are," he finishes with a deep breath.

"Here we are," Lorelai says. Distantly, she realizes she is crying, and she realizes that Luke realizes it too, but he doesn't approach her. She is a frightened rabbit, ready to bolt, and if she wasn't so upset, she'd probably think of a cartoon reference in her mind about now.

"It's stupid. I'm stupid, Lorelai. Please don't cry." He looks panicked. Lorelai remembers he hates crying, has never been able to handle it. (Tough, she thinks.)

Lorelai's breath hitches. She was angry only a moment ago, and she tries to grab onto that feeling for what she wants to say next, but she's just _sad, _and all she can do is echo his words again. "Here we are."

She wraps her coat tightly around her waist, wipes the tears from her cold cheeks, and backs away from him. He moves to follow her, but she stops him with a _look_.

She thinks, dully, that her look may have been one of endings.

**...**

**...  
**

Sometime later, she hears Rory walk into the house. There's a few minutes of footsteps, as Rory tries to find her. Then she hears Rory walk up the stairs. Lorelai tries to sit up in bed for a moment, but gives up, just as Rory walks into her room.

Lorelai's not crying anymore, but Rory reacts as though she is. "_Mom_?" she says, lurching towards the bed. She bends down next to Lorelai.

Their faces are inches apart, and that's when Lorelai takes a deep breath. "I think Luke and I are over."

"What?" Rory says, in the exact same voice she's used a dozen times before. Lorelai has always ruined relationships, and Rory has always, no matter how much Lorelai tries to avoid involving her, been the one to pick up the shattered pieces. Then Rory says, "_Mom_?"

And Lorelai realizes that it's different, somehow, this time.

"He has a daughter, Rory," Lorelai says. Her voice is not tear-clogged, like she expected it to be. It is, instead, matter-of-fact.

Rory sucks in a breath, and Lorelai realizes what it must sound like. "She's _twelve_," she adds quickly. "And he's known about her for two months, and he didn't tell me. He wouldn't have told me today, but I went into the diner, and stumbled upon her…. Filling up salt shakers." She laughs bitterly.

Rory lies down next to Lorelai. "I'm sure he would've told you eventually," she says carefully, and despite Rory's lack of information about the situation, Lorelai can sense a tinge of betrayal in Rory's voice too. Luke didn't just keep April from Lorelai, he kept her from Rory too.

"That's the thing, Rory. I don't want eventually." Lorelai's voice is quiet.

For the next hour or so, Lorelai and Rory lie there in comforting silence - together.


End file.
